Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Even More Chipboard Cutting Info

Scrapbooking_Grandma has posted a wonderful guide to cutting chipboard with the Cricut over on the Cricut message board. Since the search function at the Cricut site is iffy at best, I have provided a repost of this info, as shown below. THANK YOU, Scrapbooking_Grandma for all your hard work in figuring this out!

The information contained in this document is from my own experiences in cutting chipboard. It is ONLY meant to be a guide to help you get started cutting chipboard. Your machine may respond differently to the settings in this guide. You will need to make adjustments accordingly to how your machine responds to the settings. The settings in this guide are what worked best for me when cutting chipboard.

What is Chipboard?
Definition: Chipboard is used for the backing of notepads, backing of stacks of business forms, and in scrapbooking used to ship stacks of sheets of paper to scrapbook stores. Some manufacturers are making acid-free/lignin free chipboard specifically for use in making scrapbook pages. Chipboard can be used to create depth or layered effect in scrapbook pages. You can paint it (acrylic paint, or paint dabbers), Ink it, sand it, cover it with patterned paper, and use rub-ons to embellish it.

What Items can I use around the house?
Answer: You can use: Cereal boxes, Backs of Paper Pads, Cardboard that comes with some clothing items, Cracker Boxes, Pizza Boxes, Minute Rice Boxes, Any type of Food Boxes.

How do I know if it is acid free and achievable material?
Answer: My suggestion is if your unsure if the material you’re using is archive safe than you should spray it with an archival mist. This will help preserve your projects.

Chipboard fibers accumulate while cutting:
I do want to add that while this is cutting you get cardboard fibers that accumulate while you’re cutting. I just brush or blow them off the cardboard as its cutting so I get the cleanest cut that I can get. So the blade doesn’t hang up on debris.
Deep Cut Housing vs. Regular Housing – Any Chipboard 1/16” you will need the Deep Cut Housing. I find that chipboard under 1/16” I have used the Regular Green Housing. I have used the Deep Cut Blade in the Regular Green Housing.

When cutting Chipboard my blade is cutting crazy all over the chipboard!
Lowering you r Speed, Pressure and/or Blade Depth will help resolve this problem.
I’m finding that if you cut chipboard at the slower speeds and lower pressures that your blade is more likely to cut through the chipboard sometimes with or w/o Multi-Cut. If you adjust your pressure down from Max to High or Medium, this will also help resolve this issue you may have to multi-cut with lower pressure. If you adjust your blade depth from 6 down to 4 and do Multi-Cutting, this will also help resolve that problem. You may need to make one adjustment or sometimes all 3 adjustments to correct the problem. Chipboard cuts best when using a NEW BLADE!!!

Testing: I tested each of the Chipboards using a new blade for the absolute best results. I used a simple shape of a flower. By Far the Chipboard I Liked Best was the white clay coated sold by ckresale.

Chipboard Cutting Guide And Tips and Tricks
Part II
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Brand: Creative Café: Creative Imaginations - Lucky 12x12 Kraft Chipboard – I’m not impressed with this chipboard at all. It crumbles apart while it’s cutting. Chipboard Fibers are everywhere. And for the price per piece $1.50 the performance was bad. I did not try the colored chipboard.

Speed: Low
Pressure: High
Blade Setting: 6
Multi cut: 6
Blade and Housing: Deep Cut Housing and Blade
* I did try cutting this chipboard again by adjusting settings and using Deep Cut Blade and Housing. The settings have changed from the First Guide I made available. I found this chipboard cut better by lowering the speed and pressure. I did use my Deep Cut Housing and Blade where as in the first guide I put out I used the Regular Green Housing and Deep Cut Blade. I found that cutting this chipboard preformed better with these new adjustments.

Copyright

Unless otherwise stated within the post, this is my original work. Please feel free to use as inspiration for your own personal use, but do not use for publication, contest/message board entries, or to sell. If my work inspires a work of your own, please give credit by posting a link to my blog. Thank you!